Tilt Switch

[frans]

I am looking for a suitable tilt switch for a mobile scissor platform. In the past I have tried mercury switches but in the mobile application that tended to cause false alarms, presumeably due to the dynamic motion of the base vehicle and its effect on the mercury.

The platform advances slowly while the scissors are in the up position. I would prefer a PCB mounted switch. It only needs to measure 1 axis - side tilt.

Any ideas?

 

[Clyde38]

Try

http://www.comus-intl.com/

they have sevral options.

 

[Clyde38]

Here is another

http://www.nkkswitches.com/Actuators.asp?S3=16

Sorry about sevral. . . sticky fingers.

 

[felixc]

Omron has something too. D6B-1. Schaevitz has some offerings too.

You might just need some "debouncing" to filter out the glitches due to vehicle movement.

 

[VEBill]

For anything related to safety, I'd have an urge to use a tilt sensor (continuous output, versus just an off/on tilt switch) so that I could program a uC to continuously monitor the angle and make intelligent decisions based on various extracted parameters (things like rate of change, oscillation, etc.).

 

[frans]

Thanks guys, this basically confirmed what I already knew. I think a ball type switch would be less sensitive to false alarms due to rocking motion because you would not have the wave amplification effect as with the mercury type.

VE1BLL, I did look at that option, but this is a simple commercial application and cost is an issue because it is private money.

 

[IRstuff]

You should get an electrolytic tilt sensor. They are specifically designed for analog tilt sensing. Other mechanisms such as mercury and ball switches are essentially only on/off switches.

It's not the wave action specifically; it's the amount of damping that minimizes glitches.

TTFN

 

[felixc]

An argument about the tilt sensor is that you can "adjust" the threshold figures at any angle which you determine is good for your application.

The electronics around the electrolytic sensors are sometimes quite expensive. There are other sensors than electrolytic now. Analog Devices makes such a chip, based on a silicon accelerometer. Schaevitz has one based on a capacitance sensor.

If you shop carefully, you may find some at an interesting price.

 

[frans]

Thanks for the feedback. I am researching the solutions proposed.